When the kids were taken from their mother in violation of Australian law, court battles were unable to get them back from Muslim Malaysia -- to the mother's great distress
After 14 years apart, the daughter at the centre of a well-publicised kidnapping has told of her three-year email relationship with her mother. In 1992, Jacqueline Gillespie Pascarl's seven-year-old daughter Shahirah and nine-year-old son Iddin were taken from Australia by their father, a Malaysian prince.
Shahirah emailed her mother three years ago and the pair has kept in contact since then. "I've had contact with Iddin less frequently but still for three years and it was just the three of us who knew about it, all this time," Ms Gillespie Pascarl said. "It was very secret and very private and Iddin, he's been finding his way as young men often do and he's fabulous to speak to." Shahirah, now 21, flew into Melbourne last week to be reunited with her mother and says Iddin will follow when he finishes his university studies. "He actually wanted to come with me," she said. "He just whispered to me, 'I want to come with you' - he's a bit jealous now but he's still in the middle of his term and he won't get off till a bit later. "So he's certainly going to try and come - not try, he will come."
Ms Gillespie Pascarl says she is "absolutely elated" her daughter's return has given her story a happy ending. "I was terrified that I would be not up to her expectations when she arrived and I'll go through that again with Iddin," she said. "Because you miss all the nuances of them growing up and their personalities and you just want them to accept you."
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Malaysia's headlines in 1992:
ReplyDeleteAussie police on lookout for Raja's children
Tug-of-love children have been baptised, says Mum
No Aussie request for help
Prince: I did not abduct my kids
Protection for prince's children
Don't make a big issue, foreign media told